Another (sobering) slice of the jobs data

Here’s a pretty depressing picture, courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

This means that, as of November, 19.4% of American men in their prime working years didn’t have jobs. By this measure, the current job situation (for men, at least) is much, much worse than in any downturn since the BLS started measuring this stuff in 1948. Either that or there are just a lot more stay-at-home dads, grad students, and men who voluntarily spend their days playing golf or pinochle. But I think it’s mostly the former.